Are you struggling to find a perfect and attractive domain name for your business?
You’ve got the perfect idea, but it just doesn’t have the right name. Choosing a domain name for your business is an important decision. You’re going to have this name for the life of your company, so it needs to be something you love and that will help people remember your brand.
It can take time to find the perfect one, but we’ve got some tips on how you can make it easier! Here are 12+ helpful tips and guidelines you should consider when choosing a domain name.
Below there are compiled 12+ helpful tips and guidelines for how to choose a domain name.
1. Exact Match Domains for SEO
Exact Match Domains for SEO have been a popular strategy in recent years such as cheapflights.com. Thus, it makes sense to push these sites further when they are affordable but one factor that should be considered is keyword density on the domain name with EMDs having greater recognition value than single words due to being an “exact match” which means people can type them into Google search engine results without needing any additional letters or numbers added after -(domain). Although there other benefits associated with this approach like branding/recognition-value; however technical success doesn’t depend entirely upon how well your chosen keywords fit within each page title tag (headings) so long as you use relevant content offering valuable information about what product.
2. Make it Brandable over Generic
Brandable means that your company name sounds like a business. Suppose, you are fitness brand called Power Steps. If powersteps.com or anything similar isn’t available, don’t make the mistake of deviating drastically from your brand name and choosing something generic like letsgetfit.com. It sounds less like a business and more like a cliché mantra. Not to mention, generic domains get lost in the digital shuffle of overused keywords.
A better version would be something close to your actual brand name such as powerstepsfitness.com. It sounds like a business, it’s simple, and it describes what you do.
It’s important to find a name that will stick in people’s minds and be memorable. You should try coming up with something catchy, but also make sure it has some meaning behind the branding because this could reflect what type of company or business you have on your hands.
A good way for brainstorming unique names is by looking at websites who already own domains which are slightly different from their actual brand-name (ease into applying techniques). When doing so we can start seeing patterns & ideas applicable towards our businesses; e..g certain words being used repetitively as well characters/letters obscured through out each other’s sentence.
This can be tricky depending on the nature of your brand, but try to make it something that’s catchy and memorable. Choose something that you can imagine people sharing in conversation with their friends. A good way to start brainstorming unique names is by looking at other websites who have domains that are slightly different from their actual brand name. You’ll begin to see patterns and techniques that you may be able to apply to your business.
3. Make it pronounceable
Your domain name should be pronounceable.
You think that why it is necessary?
Because, most people are going to be typing the domain name in or they’re going to be clicking on a link, so why does it matter?”
Actually, it matters because of a concept called “processing fluency.” It’s a cognitive bias that human beings have where, essentially, we remember and have more positive associations with things that we can easily say and easily think about, and that includes pronounceability in our own minds. This is going to be different depending on the language that you’re targeting and which countries you’re targeting. But certainly, if you can’t easily say the name and others are not easily able to guess how to say that name, you’re going to lose that processing fluency, you’re going to lose that memorability and all the benefits of the brandability that you’ve created.
So, It is suggested that stay away from things like. Yeaaaa, many times It’s clever. It’s unique. It might even be brandable, but it’s very difficult to pronounce and to recall. When you see it, you don’t know if that zero is an O. There are questions about like what does it necessarily mean or not.
Even I’m having trouble saying it. Raviolibertine? I would stay away from a little bit of the getting too clever for yourself, and many, many domain names do try to do that.
So, if a easy and pronounceable name does not fulfil any other requirements that I described here, then, it’s ok. No problem. You should be taken this name of course.
4. Keep it Short
One of the main goals of building a brand is staying at the forefront of consumer minds, so you need a domain name that people can remember. There’s a little bit of psychological science to consider; short-term memory is finite, and numerous studies have shown that the longest sequence the average person can passively remember is 7. That’s why we use 7 digits phone numbers! The memory works a little bit differently when it comes to whole words, such as names, but the principle remains — keep it short. Between 6-14 characters and under 4 words is ideal. This also reduces the chances of a user misspelling or mistyping your domain.
5. Make it Easy to Type
This brings us to the next step – make it easy to type. Avoid using slang as it can lead to confusion. For example, do not use “u” instead of “you” or words that have many spellings like “cemetery” and “cemetary.” This can sometimes be a tough one to avoid, but if possible try not to have too many of the same letters appear consecutively. For Example, fitnesssports.com has a few too many ‘s’. People can easily make a mistake when typing or writing out this website name.
6. Avoid Hyphens and Numbers
We know these little dashes “—” called hyphens. We must avoid these hyphens at all costs. For the most part, when people discuss websites in passing, they will omit the dash, and just say the words in the domain name. This is bad for word of mouth marketing, because customers may be landing on a different site.
Numbers pose a similar problem as well. When people hear a name with a number in it, they don’t know whether it’s spelled out or numerical. You can’t rely on people to clarify this every time they say your domain name. Chances are it’s going to get lost in translation.
7. Use Keywords Related to Your Offering
You must try to use keywords. For example, if you work in marketing try using ‘marketing’ in the domain name. In other words, use the keywords people use when searching for your products or services.
The way you implement keywords into your domain can improve your SEO, but you need to understand how Google interprets keywords in 2018. Ultra-specific keywords used to be beneficial for rankings, but now it can have the opposite effect. For example, instead of choosing a domain name like BuyComfortableChairs.com, go with something broader, but still relevant, like Lounging.com. Google will be able to use the other information on your website in combination with your domain to categorize your business. The reason for this change is that too many spammy, low-quality websites were using ultra-specific keywords to bolster their rankings.
8. Use an Appropriate Domain Name Extension
Your domain name extension is those two or three letters at the end of your domain like .com or .net. Some of them have specific uses and indicate categories such .gov (government). Others can indicate the country that a website is based in such as .ca (Canada) or .de (Germany).
It goes without saying that .com is the most sought-after extension. Businesses who want to appear formidable in the marketplace will pay top dollar to claim a .com domain.
If the .com you had your heart set on is completely out of reach than worry not, because there’s still plenty of great options that still allow you to build a strong brand. Here is a list of common extensions and what they are usually used for.
.net – technical sites
.info – information based sites
.co – usually used to indicate a company or commerce site
.org – nonprofits, and charities
.me – personal websites, blogs, portfolios
.biz – e-commerce stores or commercial use
9. Conduct Research
Research the domain. Domain hosts such as
all offer helpful research tools to find out if a domain is taken or not. They also provide you with similar alternatives. Domains have different values, based on trends, specificity, and length. Keep this in mind when choosing your site. Or on the flip side, if you already own a domain, you can get it appraised quickly, sell it, and use the money to purchase a new domain.
10. Bias towards .com
I know, it’s 2010. Why are we still talking about .com? The internet’s been around 20-plus years. Why does .com matter so much when there are so many TLD extension options? The answer is, again, this is the most recognized, most easily accessible brand outside of the tech world.
But cognitive fluency, processing fluency says, dictates that we should go with something that’s easy, that people have an association with already, and .com is still the primary thing that non-tech savvy folks have an association with. If you want to build up a very brandable domain that can do well, you want that .com. Eventually, if you are very successful, you’re going to have to try and go capture it anyway.
11. Make it intuitive
If you believe that a member of your target audience, the audience that you’re trying to reach now and in the future, could immediately associate the domain name with a good guess of what they think you do, that is a big positive.
12. Avoid common marketing phrases.
Marketing tactics and associated buzz words evolve quickly, and an agency will look as outdated as quickly as the buzz terms they reference do. Sure, “Blue Ocean”, “Big Data”, “Content Kings,” “Digital Native” sound relatively compelling now, but it securely locks your brand in the now, and doesn’t say much about the longevity, evolution, or progressiveness or your business as you grow.
13. Do Not Delay, Act fast.
There are countless horror stories of people investing in a business, setting everything up and then when they go to choose their domain name, it’s taken.
Domain registering should be at the top of your list.
If you end up going with a website name that deviates from your original plan, it may end up changing certain aspects of your business. Therefore, it’s good to be aware of those changes sooner rather than later.
In Conclusion
A lot of new businesses make the mistake of overlooking the importance choosing their domain name. But understanding why and how to choose a good domain name is a crucial part of success in today’s market. You want your domain to be memorable, instill confidence, and be unique. You can accomplish this by keeping it short/simple, doing your research, choosing a suitable extension, using broad keywords and by staying on brand.
Important Note: be sure to renew your domain without any lapses in ownership.
Thanks for reading.
